cartoonists

"Thanks to globalization, new technologies and social networks, we know that what makes us laugh or saddens us, causes exactly the same reaction on the other side of the world."

"When I was about five or six, I got in big trouble at school for illustrating an age-inappropriate poem about the Queen. To my detriment, the art was so carefully and lovingly drawn that my teacher could see exactly who was depicted, and what was going on. I grew up in England where that sort of thing was frowned upon—unlike corporal punishment, which was actively employed—and it all ended very badly. But I definitely learned an early lesson in the breathtaking power of art."

"The Charlie Hebdo case is disturbing for the entire guild. There are many taboos, intolerance and extremism. And our task is — to destroy them. I believe that clever and artistic, reasoned and convincing humor can push more and more walls in our world. And it can be done without insult or aggression."

"Terrorist attacks, global warming, digital technologies [Response to question about three things that have influenced our world the most in recent years]"

"I spend a majority of my time thinking, and reading: Trying to find the angle that no one else would think to depict. I am always fearful of producing obvious things. While all art is at least tangentially political (the second you publicly place a mark on a piece of paper you will piss SOMEONE off), mine is deliberately overtly political. I take issues and events and try desperately to make sense of them. Like a columnist, I practice opinion journalism except I actually draw my conclusions, so to speak."

"My sketchbooks are a mess. I use them as sounding boards so there's a mixture of writing, word associations, and incomprehensible squiggles. Except when I am trying to perfect a caricature, the art in them is blisteringly rudimentary."

"I find that I can say so much more through humor. People are far more likely to absorb a message or opinion if it is wrapped in wit."

"Mexico is one of the most important economies in Latin America, but is no doubt better known as a cultural country with its plastic arts, monumental painters, writers, cuisine, colonial architecture and archaeological sites. All this is the heritage of humanity. But the violence and drug dealing are usually much more visible."

"Every parent wishes their kids came with a Pause button. But they don’t have one, and you begin to realize that every age is fascinating. Still, I think I made these books to keep a piece of their childhoods with me. Later, I’ll get to show them how incredible—how small, goofy, and wild—they all were."

"Yarmouk is called a camp, but it’s really a part of the city with buildings, streets, and all the normal services. Growing up there was something nice and something hard. A lot of people in a small area; many pupils in the school. We had a beautiful, funny life – hard, but beautiful. Sometimes hard memories become nice when you look back. When I remember it now, I have nostalgia about that time. I remember my friends, my neighbourhood, my street, my family home."

"I work a lot on environmental issues, ecology, justice, peace, equality ... because it seems important to show through caricature and humor, the imbalance that humans generate our actions.Cartoonists not fix the planet, but we propose starting points for other views."

"When I was a child, I loved to draw. I drew everything, and I drew on everything – I was drawing on the walls, in school textbooks, on my body - everywhere. This is a child’s job! I loved drawing and when I was in school, my art teacher supported me and entered my work in a UN children’s drawing prize which I won twice, when I was 13 and 14. Those prizes gave me the power and the belief to continue drawing – I felt like I had something to say through my drawing. You can explain your story, your feelings, your ideas."

"Cartoon is the fun way to express opinions and communicate, that's why I like it. When I illustrate textbooks I also try to make them have humor."

"In the political-cartoons genre I like Ares and (Angel) Boligan´s work for their graphic style. I also admire the work of Quino…In children´s illustration, I could give a lot of names also but if I had to choose only one I can say I really admire the work of Rebecca Dautremer. I’m fascinated by her work."

"when I was around 18, I started thinking about cartoons because I saw a lot in the newspapers, and on the walls of the camp. The walls were like our newspaper in the camp. Yarmouk was one big newspaper. In 1998 I published my first cartoon in a Palestinian magazine, then had exhibitions in the camp, in Damascus, Aleppo and Lebanon. I started connecting with newspapers – that’s how it goes. At the same time, I was also a teacher in an elementary school in Damascus."

"And it's not just getting the anger out of my head (and sleeping very well having done so, thank you very much) but letting others know that they're not alone in feeling this way, that their anger matters and that things can change for the better if we remind ourselves there's more of us than all those who accept this normalized cruelty. I used what I had, my ability to draw, as a tool to speak up. I didn't plan to, I just figured out how. Anyone can do the same, just figure out what your tools are and get loud. And if you can piss off a few bullies in the process, even better."

"I’ve been drawing since childhood but I studied economics instead of art, I was really interested in political news and geopolitics. My favourite topic is political drawing/cartoon. It is a perfect way to combine my 2 passions: my interest for the news and my drawing skills."

"I work in political/editorial cartoon but also in children’s book illustration. They are 2 different genres, but I like changing from time to time what kind of topics I’m working on. According to my mood I will spend more time in one or another genre.I like to denounce with my cartoons, but sometimes it is also good to put some poetry in this complicated world and the children illustrations help me to focus in something more positive."

"I've been publishing professionally since the early 90's, I was lucky enough to get to work in a newspaper and that was a great school, like a second university."

"I work with the TV on, lots of news, and as the 2016 campaign got more ridiculous I got more angry. I started venting my frustrations at all these eroding norms by drawing cartoons of Trump and then posting them online for friends. The responses were very positive and almost seemed like group therapy for those who shared them. People got a laugh out of it; they felt better, even. After the shock of the election I just kept going, and then suddenly it was January and my sister and I were at the Women's March in Washington D.C. holding signs made from one of my cartoons. The positive feedback was coming every few yards and I made a decision right there to make this a project-I would draw these cartoons until this guy was out of office because there's no way I can't not do it. When someone in the future asks me what I did during all this craziness I'd have this to show them. I did this."

"My early cartoons were about Palestine, Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. More political than funny because it was difficult for me to draw something funny. I always go towards tragedy and darkness because I draw what I’m feeling. I’m trying to explain about myself and my people."

"My main motivation is to communicate an idea and generate a personal dialogue or with the reader around each image. I think we draw to "rethink"."

"I’m still drawing now. Drawing in a safe place like Switzerland is good, you have total freedom. But you lose the sense of danger, the challenge. For me I did my best drawings under the bombs. I lost a big part of my power when I left Syria, but I still have the power of memory."

"I didn't start out wanting to be an editorial cartoonist. I loved drawing from the moment I learned how to make a crayon work. I'd tell picture stories with my mom years before I learned how to read. When I was 10, a visiting cousin left an X-Men comic on the coffee table and I was instantly hooked, and it wasn't long before I was drawing my own superhero adventures. It just seemed like a natural path for me. I would be a comic book artist someday and I'd be pretty happy."

"The future is mysterious,” he says. “Now we’re seeing an entire generation lost to war. My hopes for the future are not personal; they’re for my people. My hopes are for peace, and only for peace. I’m married to a Syrian woman and our son carries two nations in his heart."

"I read a lot of newspapers, magazines, books. The news are the fundamental resource to find ideas for the satirical cartoons but also for generic themes, for gag cartoons. Now all the media can give us a big number of inspirations."

"Firstly, I’m a human being. There’s no massive difference between a Syrian and a Palestinian in Syria. This is why I’m not surprised to see Palestinians fighting on both sides—most have tried to stay neutral, but all have been affected by the cycle of war."

"There is a big difference between revolution against oppression and terrorist activity. Revolution is among the most honorable things to sacrifice for. It doesn’t thrive on oppression and the murders of innocents. Whoever does this is preventing progress in their community."

"The silence of the international community in these situations allows terror to thrive … as educated people we have a duty to stand against this type of terror and those who support it."

"In these years there are a great number of debates about similar cartoons. Many ideas are similar, of course, because the themes are recurring: war, peace, pollution, society, etc. Condemning all artists isn’t right. Many of them have in fact similar ideas, at the same time even if in opposite sides of the World. It’s although important for all the authors to truly check if the idea is truly an original one… Even if checking the whole web, catalogues and magazines could be a hard task indeed."

"I have great hope for the E-revolution … Twitter and Facebook are marvelous inventions and I use them to spread my work. I hope Palestinians will use these tools to gain their right of return."

"The tools of oppression have evolved over two years of warfare, from the police baton to gas."

"Sometimes, to make a little bit of change in people’s lives they just need a tent or a little bit of food, a bit of support or a little education."

"I want to mention artists who inspired me so much like cartoonist Quino and Yuriy kuzubukin, Pete Docter's ideas and animations, the novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Charlie Chaplin's comedies. Their art talk about human deep feelings. mostly their pains and sorrows, social inequalities, what is life and how loneliness feels, loving nature and other creatures. These are the main foundational concepts of most of my artworks too."

"plagiarism must be stigmatized, but it’s increasingly becoming some sort of “Witch Hunt” nowadays."

"When you have a cause, the best way to express yourself is artistically"

"In my early childhood, I liked to draw but my love for it decreased when I went to school. Our art teachers asked us to draw from a picture and never cared about our own thoughts and imaginations to be drawn. I liked drawing but not what I was asked to draw. When I was 18 years old, I attended an Iranian painting (miniature) course, but there I was not allowed to draw my thoughts too. So, I dropped from that course and attended a cartoon course; and then it was exactly what I was looking for. It was all about drawing your thoughts and feelings, and I had lots of thoughts to draw. While I was trying to learn drawing cartoons, I attended an animation course too and I found it so amazing. Those were the best art forms for me to share what I was feeling Then I became an animator and cartoonist."

"(My cartoons) convey a short, unique and humorous message. It is what I like to do. I spend lots of time in the first step of the creative process to find such an idea, then I write it as a short story. Only after that I decide which art form - cartoon, comic or animation - can express that story in the best way. The right choice can increase its chance to become viral. A short humorous content has more chance to be shared on social medias and thus reach and impact more people too."

"I hope all the people who have problems in their countries can get out. I support people who want to get out if they have dreams, if they want to protect their kids."

"All the regimes in the world have taken advantage of the Palestinian situation. The Arabs have exploited it to cement their authority and the West has taken advantage economically. Everyone has played around with us. When you’re a card, you can never fully know who’s holding you."

"I’m only showing the harsh reality of the situation. I would love to show happy kids playing but this is not what is happening. At moments like these as I draw I am also crying."

"I am dreaming every day about going back to Syria … but I will never return before that criminal regime is toppled."

"I moved many times in Syria starting from March 2011 until December 2012 when I left. The last six months were very difficult to live under the bombs all the time. At that time, we would hear three sounds. The first was the sound of the shell when it was launched. The second was the sound of the shell above us in the sky. The third sound was the sound the of the explosion on the ground, or in a building. I was drawing all the time, but when I heard that first sound, I would lift my pencil and wait, thinking: ‘maybe this is my last drawing’. If I heard the third sound, that meant I was still alive. I’m lucky because I always heard all three sounds, but many thousands of Syrian people around me never heard the third sound."

"The expansion of [Israeli] settlement and the arrest of activists does not make me optimistic about real peace anytime soon. Everyone suffers from this political stupidity.” Hani adds, “The problem in these situations is never the people—it’s always the leaders who guide policy."

"I try by means of synthesis to tell as many things as possible, to reflect our inconsistencies and those of our society or simply to play with the absurd. It's a job that I really enjoy."

"(My favorite artist that uses dark humor is) the French humorist Claude Serre, with a fine graphic style and a very hard black humor can be found in his series of cartoons, like “Humour Noir & Hommes en Blanc”. Another good example that can be easily found is the book “Idées Noires”, by Franquin. Very different from his usual style, but still a little gem that is not very known to the public."

"I was born 40 years ago in Isfahan, Iran. My childhood is not my life's favourite part. I was impatient to grow and get old enough to be able to control my own life. However, that period gave me a deep knowledge of how pain, sorrow, fear and inequality feel like. It gave me sharp eyes to identify them and be empathetic with people who experience those feelings. This is the main power of my art process. As a child, I felt deep love for animals, and I have been having many pets ever since. I loved watching cartoons and painting, and I wanted to be a big painter like Leonardo da Vinci; but I had not the chance to attend any art course until I was 18 years. I have never stopped making art after that. I married when I was 21 years with an animator, and he has helped me a lot in my art career during those years."

"In the art world I love René Magritte, for his dreamlike and surreal view of life and the world around us. I also really do like pre-Raphaelite artists such as Dante Gabriele Rossetti."

"I value the political awakening of society and I hope that these protests are not in vain and bring changes. This is something unprecedented in our country, never before were there massive marches that lasted more than a month and also in the middle of a pandemic. There is a very complex crisis and a government that does not listen, closes in on dialogue and its only option is force. I am very concerned about the violation of Human Rights by the forces of the State… It is very serious, inadmissible in a democracy."

"Before, my family was all in the same place, now everyone is spread around the world. I’m here in Switzerland, in Geneva, my brother is in Cologne in Germany, my parents and two other brothers are in Sweden, and another brother is in Madrid, in Spain. It’s not easy to connect with them. It’s good we have social media and video calls, but it’s not the same. My kids are speaking French now, my brother’s kids are speaking German, Swedish, another Spanish. When they meet now it’s not easy to connect with so many languages, different cultures, different educations. We will lose our family tree. The branches have been cut off and are drifting down the river in different directions. But Switzerland is very good for my kids, without any problems and without any bad memories, without any dangers in the future. For me, it’s okay. I’m working here, I’m still drawing, I’m feeling good – life is good – but the memories occupy my mind all the time."